Of Snowballs and Gloves
by Shortest Ar
Summary: Oneshot Rukia's love of the snow leads to an epic battle, followed by some warm memories. IchixRuki


**Well, I was bored, so here's something I typed up to pass some time. **

**Enjoy!**

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It fell from the heavens as if it were pieces of the sky itself, and settled on the ground in heaps. Its flakes glistened in the cold, white winter sun and it crunched under boots. It made the world seem that much more pure, casting white reflections everywhere.

Rukia stood, thinking of all the wonderful qualities of snow, as Ichigo mumbled behind her. She paid him no mind; she knew she had dragged him here shortly after waking up, and she knew how much he hated that. However, she just couldn't pass up the thought of sharing the sight of snow with Ichigo, the person who she loved the most, even though she refused to admit it.

"Oi, Rukia! C'mon, it's been a half hour since you've moved! Let's go, or we'll both freeze to death!" Ichigo yelled from behind her. His brow only furrowed deeper as she neglected to respond. _Nothing for it, then…_ he thought, smirking. He silently picked up a handful of snow in his gloved hand and packed it into an almost-perfect sphere. He did not hesitate as he hurled the snowball at her, knowing that it was a perfect throw and would hit her square in the back of the head.

It would have, if it hadn't been for the fact that Rukia had chosen that unfortunate moment to turn to Ichigo and say something.

The ball of snow hit her full in the face, some of it managing to get into her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she scraped the snow from her face and looked at Ichigo.

_Oh damn, I am totally gonna get it, _Ichigo thought as he waited for her response.

"What the hell was that?!" Rukia screamed. Her jaw was still frozen from the hit, and it hurt to move it, but that didn't stop her from unleashing fury on Ichigo.

"A snowball, Rukia. Jeez, you are clueless," Ichigo taunted. He knew that there was no way she would have heard of one before, but that didn't matter. This was one of the special times when he had the upper hand, and he wasn't going to waste it.

"Cowardly idiot! Real men don't fight with balls of snow! Come and face me like a man would!" she challenged.

"Rukia," Ichigo said, bending down. "This is a snowball fight. We use _balls of snow_ to hit each other, and the first one to collapse from exhaustion wins. Got it?"

Rukia couldn't turn down a challenge. She realized that she didn't have any gloves, but that didn't daunt her. "You're on," she said, picking up some snow. She gasped a bit when she felt just how cold the snow was, but quickly swallowed it. No way she was going to give up to the orange, spiky-haired brat.

Ichigo responded by sending another snow ball her way. She easily dodged it and sent back one of her own. It also failed to hit the mark—and so the fight began.

It lasted for well over half an hour before either became the slightest bit tired.

Kids that had also been enjoying the snow that day quickly focused their attention on the two teenagers that were waging war in the center of the park. One was very small with black hair and striking violet eyes, and the other was quite tall with hair so orange it could rival a carrot. They were both mercilessly whipping snowballs at each other so fast that the air around them whistled. Even though the two were constantly attacking, they fluidly escaped the other's snowballs, therefore always moving. The result was a blur of white, black, and orange, with one raspy masculine voice and one strong female voice yelling insults at each other.

The town's children had never seen a fight so… colorful. Rare was the day that teens were found playing with snow in public, let alone making such a show of it. Many kids, and even adults, sat themselves down on nearby benches or on the ground to watch.

"Take this, Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, hurling a snowball at Rukia's face.

She side-stepped it and threw one of her own, aiming at his stomach.

Ichigo wasn't quite fast enough to evade it, and it hit him in the gut, knocking the breath out of him as he doubled over.

Gasps were heard from the crowd and girls cheered, encouraging Rukia, while guys yelled at Ichigo to get back up and defend their pride.

Rukia ran closer to Ichigo and kept pelting his back with snowballs, covering him with the white powder she loved so much. He kept down, a plan forming in his mind, but he chose to keep quiet.

The boys in the crowd were at this time going insane with rage at Ichigo. He wasn't even trying, and she was so much smaller than him! Girls smiled, poking their male companions, which only added fuel to their fire.

Ichigo kept his eyes on the ground. When he saw Rukia's shoes, he suddenly shot straight up and grabbed her by the back of her coat, hoisting her in the air. She was very light and she wasn't hard to keep in the air, even with one hand. Rukia was left gaping at Ichigo, who smiled evilly in return. Her feet were at least a foot off the ground, and she had no ammo in her hands to hit him with. She scowled at him and his dirty tricks.

Guys cheered. Girls pouted, saying things along the lines of "That's not fair, using her weight as an advantage!"

Guys countered with the statement of "There aren't any rules in a snowball fight, dummies!"

Still not aware of the crowd, the two shot daggers at each other. "I win," Ichigo said, smiling at her.

"This time was a lucky one. It was my first time, and… and…" Rukia stuttered.

Ichigo laughed as her put her on the ground. "Whatever. Let's go home. You didn't even let me eat breakfast before we came, and now I'm starving." He started to walk towards the exit of the park, only now becoming aware of their fans.

"Ichigo," Rukia asked, "Have those people been there the whole time?" She blushed at the thought of her humiliating defeat at his hands.

"Um, I'm not sure…" Ichigo answered, shaking snow out of his hair. "I was more focused on our little… battle than anything else." He smiled. "No matter. I won and proved that guys are indeed better than girls in many aspects on life," he said, puffing his chest.

Rukia stepped in front of him. She didn't care that they were already half way home. She had to defend the female status from Ichigo's words. She shook her fist in his face as she yelled. "What the hell are you talking about!? We can do so many things better than…"

She was cut off as Ichigo grabbed her hand from in front of his face.

**The last few seconds from Ichigo's point of view…**

As Rukia placed her hand in Ichigo's face, he suddenly registered that she had no gloves on. Her hand was white in the palm, while her fingers took on a bluer tinge. The hand was small and thin, and still had water dripping off of it from their fight.

Ichigo could feel himself getting mad. _At what?_ He thought for a second._ Rukia. She decided to go and have a snowball fight without any friggen gloves? Idiot! Her hands must be freezing… wait. Isn't it kind of my fault for asking her, too? I didn't even check to make sure she was okay before hurling a snowball her way… so… it's my fault, I guess._

Ichigo frowned, grabbing her hand.

**Back to normal point of view…**

"Um, Ichigo?" Rukia asked, trying to break the silence between them.

"Idiot! Why did you go and have a fight with me without any gloves? Frostbite much!! What if your hands had frozen? Jeez, you are stupid sometimes, Rukia." Ichigo said loudly, looking straight at Rukia with frightening intensity.

Rukia was startled. She lifted her other hand and looked at it. It _was_ pretty scary. It almost looked… dead, to her eyes. She winced as she tried to move it, realizing for the first time how numb and cold they really were. "Frostbite? What's that?" she asked.

Ichigo sighed. "I don't really know why it happens, but I do know that if you get too cold, your skin goes back. Sometimes, they have to remove whatever it was that had gotten frozen. Do you see now? Do you want to lose some fingers?" he answered.

"Oh," Rukia said. She understood his concern a little now. She focused on the hand that Ichigo was still holding tightly. It felt good, she realized, to have his large hand completely envelop her own. She could feel warmth from his own seep into hers, making it tingle.

Ichigo caught her looking at his and her hand. "What?" he asked her, after a few seconds.

"It feels good," she said without thinking. Rukia immediately blushed furiously at her words.

Ichigo, however, was completely oblivious. "What feels good?" he questioned.

_Might as well continue… I mean, I can't really embarrass myself more than I already have, can I?_ Rukia sighed. "Your hand… it's really warm… and big… and it makes mine feel really nice, too," she explained.

Ichigo paused, processing her words. He arrived at the conclusion that he would keep on holding her little frozen hands if it made her feel better. He turned to face her and reached for her other hand, pulling her into him during the process.

Rukia smiled s she felt him cover her other hand with his own. Before she knew it, she was pressed against him, too. She was glad he was above her, because she was blushing like crazy. However, he felt good. The rest of him was as warm as his hands were, and when she laid her head on his chest, she could hear the steady thump of his heartbeat.

She buried herself in the folds of his thick jacket. He placed her hands on his chest as he wrapped his own strong arms around her frame, and rested his head on the top of hers. All Ichigo could think of was infusing her with his warmth. He could feel how cold she was, and felt a little bad that she hadn't said anything. However, he smiled when he felt her soften in his embrace.

Rukia could feel her eyelids getting heavier. She wanted to stay like this with him, completely surrounded by his warm body, but she knew that she was too tired to object to her own body's wishes. She smiled as she fell asleep; the last thing registering in her mind was Ichigo's breathing and heartbeat.

When Rukia went completely limp, Ichigo was surprised. He pulled away, looking at her face. She was smiling while a warm flush played about her cheeks, fast asleep. He picked her up bridal-style and carried her all the way home.

As he walked home, he made a promise with himself. Well, actually, two. The first one was that he'd stay by her side, no matter what, even if it was just to make sure that she was alright. The second was that next time they faced each other in a snowball fight, he'd let her win.

Was the ever glowering Ichigo finally softening up?

**Ta-daaaaa!**

**Happy Easter, guys (and girls).**

**Please review!**

**-AR**


End file.
